Huntington Station Man Convicted Of 2013 Murder Of Sarah Strobel​

A Huntington Station man was convicted Monday of the murder of 23-year-old Huntington Station woman Sarah Strobel in 2013, Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota said.

Fernando Romualdo, 29, was convicted of second-degree murder. The SCDA is recommending Romualdo to serve 25 years to life, which is the longest prison sentence allowed under the law.

The body of Strobel, a 2008 graduate of Walt Whitman High School, was found in the woods at the Froehlich Nature Preserve on West Rogues Path in Huntington in October 2013. Her body was reportedly found about 300 feet into the woods by a passerby.

Romualdo, who was already incarcerated in upstate New York for raping a juvenile female, was brought back to Suffolk County to be arrested for this crime in June 2016, police say. The DA said DNA evidence collected from Strobel's body matched Romualdo’s DNA sample that he was required to provide for the state database after his rape conviction.

“Today’s guilty verdict means this violent sexual predator will be behind bars for decades, and the sentence we will recommend will be the longest incarceration allowed under the law - 25 years to life in state prison,” Spota said in a press release.

More on Strobel’s death:

• Arrest Made in 2013 Murder of Huntington Station Woman: Police
• UPDATE: Police ID Woman Found Dead in Nature Preserve
• S. Huntington District Mourns Woman Found Dead
• Friends Gather to Mourn Sarah Strobel

Image via SCDA